THE HIDDEN WAR: The Story of the Copperheads

KIRKUS REVIEW

This sub-title is misleading, for The Hidden War is much more than the story of the Copperheads. It is a record of isolationism, sectionalism, pacifism, defeatism, appeasement, guerilla war fare and moves for a negotiated peace -- during the Civil War. ""There is nothing new under the sun"". A book of interest and value primarily to thorough students of the period, for in meticulous detail, armed with statistics, quotations from contemporary source material, and so on, the author marshals the disquieting story behind the story, of bitter political wrangling, of cross purposes, feuds, jealousies and dislike of the President, of dissatisfaction and the operation of the war, of discontent with the Washington set-up, of treachery, of regional disruption as threat after threat came from Middle West and Far West of further breaks with the Union. There were secret societies on all fronts, with the Copperheads the best known, but the Sons of Liberty and the others contributing to discord and stripe. There was vituperative journalism, north, south and west. There was disaffection in the field, desertion, repression and purges in army and in political life. A study that needed to be done -- but hardly keyed to a popular market.

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